


Photograph

by FruityPebblezz



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Childhood Trauma, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Sad stuff ngl, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24636052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FruityPebblezz/pseuds/FruityPebblezz
Summary: Miss Pauling asks about the Administrator’s childhood.
Relationships: Administrator/Miss Pauling (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Photograph

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this about a month or so ago, but I’m finally posting it. I really like this ship, and while there’s a lot of great writing for it, there’s not a lot that’s like this. I love their dynamic a lot, and I think there’s a lot that can be done with a ship like this. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

“How come you never talk about your childhood?”   
The question was entirely unprompted and caught Helen by surprise. She lifted her head from the paper work she was looking at, her brow furrowing in confusion. “What?” 

Miss Pauling, laying beside her on the bed, just shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just that you have all these old pictures hanging up of different people from however many years ago, but there’s no pictures of you...” she watched Helen’s face for a moment, before shrinking back against the pillow. “Sorry if it’s too nosy of me...”

Helen remained quiet for a moment longer, before setting aside her work. She pulled out a small album from the nightstand and rooted through it, and she retrieved the photo she was looking for. 

“Here I am,” Helen announced, showing Miss Pauling the photo. “This was when I was ten years old, at my family’s cottage,” 

Pauling gasped, taking the photo and observing it in wide-eyed wonder. “Whoa...oh, my god!” She couldn’t help but smile, holding it up to the light to get a better look. “Oh, you were so cute! Look at your dress, and your hair! Wow...” she then noticed that something was off about the photo. “Hey - what are those things around your legs?”

Helen took a long breath, contemplating whether or not she should answer. Finally, she replied simply, “My leg braces,” 

Pauling looked back at Helen, a look of confusion on her face. “What? Leg braces...?” The realization then dawned on her. “Were you...sick with something?” 

Helen just nodded. “Yes. I was sick, for most of my childhood actually,” she sighed. “I had a weak body, I wasn’t expected to live a long life since I fell ill so frequently,” 

Pauling’s heart sank as she listened. She set the picture aside, shifting closer to Helen. “Oh, no...”

Helen continued. “My mother and grandmother, the two administrators before me, wanted to give up on me and pass the heritage of the job onto my cousin. They thought I was just going to die at some point. But, my father...he believed in me,” a small smile curled at her lips as she spoke, thinking of him. “He made sure I was seen by the best doctors, he read to me every night, and he took me out on walks to make sure I was strong. He always let me know I could survive, and that I would,” her smile then faded. “But then he disappeared. My mother never would tell me what happened to him, although I suspect someone must have wanted him dead,” there was a twinge of bitterness in her voice, indicating she still held hatred for whoever that ‘someone’ was. 

“I’m sorry...” Pauling whispered, inching closer. She hesitated, before resting her head against Helen’s shoulder. Helen didn’t move away, and instead she went on. 

“I survived, obviously. I was then trained by my mother for this job, although she was cruel and ruthless in her teaching,” she paused, before remarking, “I never imagined I would become like her, but...she was like my grandmother, I suppose it was a cursed circle. Just generation after generation of one woman manipulating the next and so forth,” 

“But you can break that,” Pauling interjected. “You don’t have to be like her, or like either of them...”

Helen laughed, softly yet with a deep sadness. “No...no. It’s too late for me, and besides - I have no children to shape and mold into myself, anyway...”

“It’s not too late,” Pauling took Helen’s hand into her own, giving it a squeeze. “I-I mean...I dunno, it depends...”

Helen intertwined their fingers, internally noting how withered and frail hers looked compared to Pauling’s. “On what, Miss Pauling? What does it depend on?”

Pauling shifted again, this time looking right up into Helen’s eyes. “How you’re gonna keep living, I guess,” she replied simply, her voice quiet and gentle. 

Helen stared back at her in silence for a long moment. She then pulled Pauling into her arms, holding her close with a soft grip, saying nothing. Pauling laid her head back on her shoulder, closing her eyes, her arm finding its way to wrap around the older woman and clutch her in a sound hug. 

Helen finally spoke once a few moments of silence had passed. “I don’t know what I would do without you,” 

“I dunno...” Pauling murmured, smiling faintly, her head nuzzling closer to the crook of Helen’s throat.


End file.
